Construction’s unemployment rate continues to rise, reaching 27.1% in February, its highest level in a decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In its latest monthly employment report, released on March 5, BLS says that construction’s jobless rate last month was up from 24.7% in January and also represented an increase from the February 2009 mark of 21.4%. BLS reports that construction shed another 64,000 jobs in February, bringing the industry’s total job losses since December 2007 to 1.9 million. The BLS construction jobless rate isn’t adjusted for seasonal variations. In the highly seasonal construction industry, February tends to be one of the slowest months.

Source: U.S. bureau of labor statistics. Construction unemployment rate for February.